Big Idea:
Shadows are all around us.

To revisit what we know about shadows, we watch this short video and listen to this fun, repetitive song about shadows!

Vocabulary Instruction

This is the eighth lesson in a series of fifteen.

You could write each of the following words on the board, but I like to have them prepared on word cards with pictures to illustrate them: nails, shovel.

Ask students to stand with a partner and to pantomime actions as you say each word.

I prompt:Show me your nail. (we touch our nails) Show me how we hammer a nail into the wall or ground. (we pretend to pound a nail) I explain:NAIL is a multi meaning word. It can mean the tip of your finger or it can mean a piece of metal that we use to attach something to a certain spot.

While some may see this as teaching vocabulary in isolation, it really is not. We discuss the words through context and the dictionary illustrations also challenge the kids to provide context. This allows me to check for understanding. We further examine these words in the context of the story through the reading.

Resources (2)

Resources

I remind students that when we read we can learn about the characters. I say:The author tells us many things about the characters. We can learn about where they are and about what they do. But the author does not always tell us everything. Sometimes we have to use clues from the story and information to figure out things in a story. We call that ‘drawing conclusions.’ Everybody say ‘drawing conclusions.’ Students chant ‘drawing conclusions!’

Text Dependent Questions

Practice with text dependent questions if very important because when students are assessed on the standards, the answers to questions need to come from the text. Students will often answer based on their experiences or opinions or what they 'think.' Because of this, we practice bouncing back to the text throughout the year.

W read pp 13-20 of Bear Shadow. At the following stopping points, I pose these questions to students.

pp. 13-14 I ask: Why did Bear think he buried his shadow? (because it was nowhere to be seen)

pp. 15-16 I ask: Why couldn’t Bear see his shadow when he tried to bury it? (because the sun was high in the sky and it cast a small shadow; Bear’s body doesn’t block as much light)

p. 20 I ask: Do you think Bear has learned much about shadows? Why or why not? (Bear probably doesn’t totally understand shadows because he thinks his shadow caught a fish too)

Our sight words this week are ‘he’ and ‘she.’ Create a circle map with "She is a ___." in the center. Students think of words to complete that sentence.

I ask: Is a tree a girl? Students will say no. I prompt:How can we finish that sentence? I make sure their responses are female. I write the words and draw a picture clue as students respond.

I model:First I am going to write my name and date on my journal page.

I ask: When I start writing off the circle map, where do I start? Where do I look first? (middle) I am going to start my sentence with "She is a" I am going to write that now.

I continue: I want to write the word 'mom.' What letter does /m/ /m/ /m/ mom start with? (m) Who can come and touch the word 'mom' on our circle map? If you don't know the letter 'm', use the pictures to help you?

I direct: Because we are studying shadows, let's make shadows in our pictures! What do we need for shadows? (light, something to block the light, surface) Yes, so in my picture, what could be a light source? (light, sun) My picture will be the block of the light. What will be the surface?(the ground)

Students go to their seats and write off the map. Their illustrations for this writing are done in shadow form. I let students draw just the shadow/silhouette or they can draw the picture with the shadow. But they must have a shadow in their picture and the picture today must be a GIRL.

While students are writing, I am monitoring and assisting where necessary. As students finish, they raise their hand. When I come to them, they must read their writing to me, showing 1:1 correspondence with their finger as they read.

Reading Our Writing

I always have students read their writing back to me. We do this every day, so students are familiar with the procedure. I have them read back to me so that I can see how they are applying sight word knowledge, letter/sound and blending knowledge and tracking. This particular writing piece also allows me to see if they understand the return sweep.

If students are struggling, I have them echo me and I help them to track by using hand over hand and moving their finger along as we read.

Big Idea:
Sentence frames provide ELLs language support and a framework to explain their thinking. They are used in this lesson to help students write a brief opinion paper in response to a story read aloud.